First gag yourselves, KTR tells Congress
At a Hyderabad seminar, K. T. Rama Rao said the Congress government is racing to legislate ‘hate speech’ while its own leaders keep testing the microphone. The bill is real and in committee; the censorship claims are his — and the Nalla Balu court record backs the free-speech warning more than the government’s sales pitch.
The proposed bill has been referred to a Select Committee after objections in the Assembly.
K. T. Rama Rao used a Hyderabad seminar to aim the obvious at the obvious target: if the Telangana Congress wants a Hate Speech and Hate Crimes law, it can start by reining in its own leaders. “The Bill should begin with the government itself,” he said, arguing Congress leaders should first control their language before accusing others. The remarks were reported from an event organised by Nava Telangana.
The bill is not a rumour. Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar introduced the Telangana Hate Speech and Hate Crimes (Prevention) Bill, 2026 in the Assembly on March 29 on behalf of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. After objections from BJP, CPI and AIMIM members and suggestions from Congress legislators, it was sent to a Select Committee. The government has sold it as a “shield for the vulnerable”. The draft also hands the state new content‑removal powers and liability hooks, which is exactly where free‑speech alarms usually go off.
KTR alleged the state and the BJP‑led Centre are leaning on media and platforms to pull posts and reels, and said people are being jailed for “sharing the truth”. Those are his claims; takedown notices or platform logs were not published alongside them. But his example — BRS activist Durgam Shashidhar Goud alias Nalla Balu — is not invented: the Telangana High Court last year quashed three cases over his political posts and warned police against mechanically booking “harsh, offensive, or critical” political speech, stating that mere political criticism cannot attract criminal sanction. The precise “15 days” jail figure KTR cited is not established in the records we reviewed.
What is established is the Congress government’s appetite for a broad speech law that even its own allies in the Assembly wanted sent back for a closer look. If the bill returns with the same vague edges and extra levers, the Select Committee will not be the only place it gets scrutiny.